LP

Charlottesville, VA (via Zoom call)

November 9, 2020

Customary Folklore, Folk Celebration

“21^st Birthday in Virginia”

Informant Data:

LP is the sister of the collector. She grew up in New Orleans, LA and attended school at the University of Virginia at the time of this milestone birthday. She is currently completing a one-year graduate program at the University of Virginia.

LP began drinking her freshman year of high school, at age 14. She first purchased a fake ID that same year and first went to a bar when she was 16. Her parents were relatively strict about underage drinking as compared to the parents of her peers, but they became somewhat laxer by her junior year of high school.

Contextual data:

Growing up in New Orleans, LP had already experienced many of the major milestones that come with turning 21 in America—drinking and purchasing alcohol and going to bars—but in Virginia, people are allowed to legally purchase alcohol the day before their 21^st birthday. According to LP, this is because some counties in the state have laws that restrict the sale of alcohol on Sundays for religious reasons and the state wanted to allow everyone to be able to legally drink on their 21^st birthday.

In Virginia, all liquor stores are government owned “ABC stores” and the sale of alcohol to minors is tightly controlled. The stores have a sign in the front that says, “Your birthday must be before [the day before, 21 years ago] in order to purchase alcohol.”

Item:

LP did not do anything special for her 21^st birthday because it was not a major milestone for her and because she had a test the next day. On the day before her birthday, however, she participated in a UVA folk ritual that involved going to the ABC store, purchasing a bottle of liquor, and taking a picture in front of the sign that displayed the birthday requirement. She shared that photo with her family and a few friends and then returned to the library to study for her test.

Connor Page

12 Webster Ave.

Hanover, NH 03755

Dartmouth College

Russian 13

Fall 2020

JN

Tennessee (via Zoom call)

November 9, 2020

Customary Folklore, Folk Celebration

“21^st Birthday During COVID-19”

Informant Data:

JN is a high school classmate of the collector and is currently a junior at a university in Tennessee. She grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and has lived there for all her life. At the time of her 21^st birthday, JN was at her mom’s house in New Orleans (her parents are divorced but both live in the New Orleans area) because her school had gone fully remote due to the coronavirus pandemic.

JN began drinking at age 14—Mardi Gras of her 8^th grade year. She first got a fake ID during the first semester of her junior year in high school.

Contextual data:

JN’s family has deep roots in New Orleans on both sides, and general attitudes around underage possession or consumption of alcohol tend to be laxer in the city. Her parents—and most parents at her high school—were not very concerned about preventing underage drinking as long as people behaved somewhat responsibly. Additionally, bars in New Orleans are allowed to choose to allow in 18 year-olds, so many New Orleanian teenagers have already legally been allowed inside a bar before their 21^st birthday.

Furthermore, JN’s 21^st birthday occurred during the spring of 2020, when New Orleans was experiencing a particularly acute surge in coronavirus cases, meaning that all bars were closed and large gatherings were banned.

Item:

Despite the pandemic, JN, her friends, and her family still found a way to celebrate.

“Obviously, the 21^st birthday is centered around drinking, so the first thing I did that afternoon was play beer pong with my dad, who came over to visit me. After that, my friends surprised me by driving by my house to wish me happy birthday.”

Some of JN’s friends got out of their cars and “iced” her—a typical 21^st birthday ritual in which the person who is being celebrated is presented with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice (a fruit flavored malt beverage) and must get down on one knee to consume the drink in a single sip.

After that, JN hosted a Zoom celebration with friends from school, camp, and home. While she had fun, JN noted that it didn’t feel like as much of a milestone in part because of the pandemic and in part because she had already had already performed the major rites of passage.

“It didn’t really feel that special because I had been drinking before that and my parents had already condoned me drinking illegally. I think that it would have been more special had I been allowed to go out legally and celebrate at a bar.”

Connor Page

12 Webster Ave.

Hanover, NH 03755

Dartmouth College

Russian 13

Fall 2020

JN

Tennessee (via Zoom call)

November 9, 2020

Customary Folklore, Folk Celebration

“New Orleans Sweet Sixteen”

Informant Data:

JN is a high school classmate of the collector and is currently a junior at a university in Tennessee. She grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and has lived there for all her life. She went to a small K-12 private school in Uptown New Orleans that was generally relatively affluent. JN attended this school from kindergarten until twelfth grade. She was a 10^th grader (sophomore in high school) at the time of this folk ritual.

Contextual Data:

This interview was conducted approximately 5 years after the sweet sixteen party occurred. Both the informant and the collector were present for the party, as everyone in the grade at the school was invited to attend. The celebration itself consists of roughly 20-30 honorees—all of the girls in the sophomore class at each private school in the city—and approximately 300-400 guests. The informant reported that all of the girls in her class participated in the celebration.

The sweet sixteen is a typically American phenomenon that is present in media targeted at young adults. It is celebrated by young girls on their sixteenth birthday and represents a coming of age celebration. Within New Orleans culture, there exist already a coming of age for young women—debutante balls, which occur during a woman’s third year of college—so sweet sixteens are somewhat de-emphasized and are organized to celebrate all of the girls in a single class simultaneously. The celebrations are organized and paid for by the moms of the sophomore girls. Dads are typically not involved in planning. Only girls from the local private schools and a few girls from one of the local public schools throw sweet sixteens.

Item:

“The moms who plan the event rent out a large venue to throw a party for the sophomore girls. The event doesn’t celebrate any single birthday, but instead celebrates all of the girls’ sixteenth birthdays.”

“I had already turned 16 my freshman year, and just had a small celebration with family and a few friends.”

During the event, no gifts were exchanged besides a small gift bag for each of the honorees. Each girl had a poster with a picture from their childhood on it. Guests were expected to write kind messages on each poster wishing the girls well, however some guests (typically their teenage boy classmates) would write rude or offensive messages so parents had to be present in order to ensure that the messages were kind and free of profanity. The informant also mentioned a certain social hierarchy that was reinforced by the number of messages on each girl’s poster—the girls who were more popular or who had more friends typically had more messages written on their posters and those with fewer messages typically felt self-conscious.

The informant also mentioned that there was a pressure to drink at the event—in part as a sign of maturity or “coolness.” Parents—typically moms—patrolled the bathrooms to ensure that honorees and attendees refrained from drinking.

Connor Page

12 Webster Ave.

Hanover, NH 03755

Dartmouth College

Russian 13

Fall 2020